The Bohemian language is being taught in only one public school in Chicago, the Harrison High School, where one hundred and sixty pupils in seven grades have been taking that subject this year. Attempts have been made to introduce the teaching of the Bohemian language in other schools, but none of them were successful. I believe that it would be in the interest of the Bohemian people to try to answer for themselves these two questions:

(1) Is it necessary that all children who want to learn the Bohemian language in our public schools should have to enroll in the Harrison High School, no matter where they may be living?

(2) Should the teaching of the Bohemian language be limited to those 2children who are fortunate enough to be in a position to attend a high school?

The first question can be answered by the youths of the various high schools themselves. If there is a sufficient number of students desiring to learn the Bohemian language, Bohemian classes will be formed in any high school. For various reasons, the second question is of much greater importance for us. We and the other Americans, no matter whether native born or immigrant have so far been indifferent to the growing German influence in our public schools. Especially should we Bohemians resent the teaching of the language of a nation that always has been our chief oppressor. Nevertheless, German classes were being formed frequently in grammar schools in which there has been a large percentage of Bohemian children. Of course, the German language was not an obligatory subject, but many of us have been of the opinion that German is a very useful language to know; we have needed it many times in Europe, so why should it not be useful to our children in America? Such has been the logical conclusion of many of us, hence, we had our children enroll in the German classes.

Now I ask, which is more practical for the children of Bohemian descent, to learn the language of their parents, or to learn the language that we have been taught to hate? All of us know that many children of Bohemian parents have a smattering knowledge of both Bohemian and German, but know neither of these languages. If the children had been learning their mother tongue from their early youth, we should now not be complaining that they are becoming denationalized.

Why is the German language and none other than the German language being forced on us in our public schools? Is its practical value greater than that of any other modern language? More recently, we have learned to know the German "culture" too well to keep on being deceived by that pretense. Even our "Yankees" have been of the opinion lately that the German "culture" is by far not what the Germans would like us to believe it is. All delusions concerning the usefulness of the German language have been overcome already, but, nevertheless, the German language is the only foreign language taught in our grammar schools. Of course, German is of great value to children of German parentage. But the same may be 4said about any other language in regard to the national group using it. Why, then, should the teaching of modern foreign languages be limited to German?

We Bohemians should make sure that our children have the opportunity to learn the Bohemian language in public schools, if they so desire. Just think of it--they are teaching German in our Pilsen and in our California districts! Is it not an insult to our national traditions to have our own children being asked to enroll in German classes? Let us see to it that our children are reared in a spirit which would make them worthy of us--make them love what our fathers have suffered for in our beloved old country, our mother tongue! Let's wake up, and let's do all we can in order to succeed in having the Bohemian language taught in our public grammar schools.

The teaching of Bohemian in our grammar schools would be of the greatest benefit to us and to our children alike. We all know how much easier it is to 5learn a language while young than in maturity. We know very well how difficult it was for us to learn the English language and how easy it is for our children to learn it. We know also that children who have attended our schools on Saturday and Sunday, know more Bohemian than those who learned it later on in life. If our children were learning Bohemian daily for four years while hearing their mother tongue at home, we could be very sure that our nation would not disappear so soon in our new country.

Some of us might say that it is for this purpose that we are keeping up our free thought schools with money furnished by our national associations. Perhaps so. But are the results achieved in such schools as good as the results from public schools would be? We know that our private free thought school system has many weaknesses: the classes on Saturdays and Sundays, when other children are free, are too great a burden on our youth; at times, some of the teachers are incompetent (here I remember what I, myself, had to go through as a pupil of a Bohemian school, but since then the conditions have become very much better).

The free thought teacher does not have the authority and prestige that the teacher in a public school has; consequently, the children obey and respect him less. It is most difficult to find men teachers better than those we now have--teachers who would be willing to give us their free time on Saturdays and Sundays for the little money that we are able to pay them. If we could keep our teachers busy throughout the week, we could get better men. But, where will the money be forthcoming with which to pay them? The authority in a public school is greater and consequently, the results achieved there are better. This has been ably pointed out by teacher [Vojta] Benes [brother of the future President of Czechoslovakia, Eduard Benes] during his recent visit in Chicago.

If the Bohemian language were taught in public schools, its teaching would become more stabilized, more normalized. It frequently happens that the little pupil--because he had been disciplined--angrily leaves our private school and 7there is no power that could make him come back, except that of his parents, and that is frequently both unwilling and weak.

So far, I have been discussing only the technical advantages of the teaching of Bohemian in our grammar schools. Let us look at the matter also from other viewpoints. First, how much money would we save if the teaching of the Bohemian language were taken over by the city? Our schools, private schools, cost us many thousands of dollars every year. What are the results? With the exception of the Ceska Svobodomyslna Skola Vojta Naprstek (Vojta Naprstek Bohemian Free Thought School) which really deserves the designation of "school," many of the so-called classes are a caricature of what a class should be from the pedagogic point of view. It is, therefore, but natural that the children there do not feel the obligation of school discipline.

This brings us to another point. Money now being spent by us for the teaching of the Bohemian language could be used for educational work along free thought lines which would acquaint the children, in an entertaining way, with the 8principles of modern thinking and protect them against the influence of sectarian Sunday schools. That would give us an opportunity to make our schools that are free thought schools in name only, free thought schools in reality and in truth.

It is up to us alone to reach this goal. As taxpayers, we have the right to demand that our money be used for the benefit of our children. Now, a demand of this kind should not be made for partisan reasons, or because we desire to remain Bohemians. No other nationality makes better Americans, and no other nationality is a more peace loving, industrious one than ours. In wanting to keep our language alive, we try to keep alive the language of a people that since time immemorial has been fighting and bleeding for freedom and human rights. We know that those of our children who have been educated in our national traditions are the best type of youth we have, a type we may be justly proud of. It is, therefore, in the interest of a higher level for our future citizenship to make a request of our School Board to introduce the 9teaching of the Bohemian language into our grammar schools.

Only a few grammar school graduates go to high school, and thus have an opportunity to take advantage of the Bohemian classes there. An opportunity that is offered to children who are fortunate enough to receive high school education should be available also to those who will never see a high school.

How can we have the Bohemian language introduced into grammar schools? The same way as it is being done in the case of the German language. German is being taught in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of grammar schools wherever the parents of at least fifty children request it. Now, let us start the campaign this summer; right now. I have no doubt that in such Bohemian centers as Pilsen, California, Tabor, Town of Lake, and others, it would be possible to get together not hundreds, but thousands of Bohemian parents to request the teaching of the Bohemian language in the local public schools. Our representative on the School Board, Mr. Joseph A. Holpuch could then be 10requested to present the petition to the School Board, and a petition signed by thousands of parents and supported by our associations, lodges, etc., could not fail being heard and granted.